So incredibly cute!

Amazing work

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VISIT MY GALLERY

Aw!
Interesting concept.

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"I still think about it and have goosebumps, you know ... I almost cried at that moment and I thought, how can the guy do that?"
~Normand Latourelle
*The-Cavalia-Club

... This isn't where I parked my horse.

Thanks! The "Aw" is just what I was going for.

Thank you! The little boy's arm didn't come out quite right but I'm pretty happy with it besides that.

Thank you!

--
"I still think about it and have goosebumps, you know ... I almost cried at that moment and I thought, how can the guy do that?"
~Normand Latourelle
*The-Cavalia-Club

... This isn't where I parked my horse.

I just have to wonder how you so seamlessly blended the bear and boy together...couldn't happen naturally.

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“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have” - Thomas Jefferson

Well, I took this photo of the
child
here and stretched up the wall to make room for the bear. (Which is unfortunately not on sxc anymore, I just went to link it and he's gone!)
The bear's arm is from another polar bear source - not the bear you see.

Luckily the bear was not all that strongly lit by the sun - that would have been a major problem!

Then I just got in there and cloned, erased (can't layer mask - Elements 3) used the smudge tool with a tiny brush to bring back the sticking out fur/hairs of the bear, messed with levels and used the burn tool to create a shadow. I rely on that tool way too much, I should paint shadows in more often.
I cut out the boy's arm entirely and put it in the layer above the bear arm to give it more of a laying on top of the bear's arm feel but in the process I made it look a little wonky somehow. Never got that quite right.

Anyway, it was a lot of trial and error but that's about it!
Bet that was more of an answer than you wanted, lol.

Actually that is exactly what I wanted to hear...I love hearing people talk about the processes they go through to get great pics like this one. Shows how much work you really have to put into even the simplest looking of pictures.

--
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have” - Thomas Jefferson